Mobile Ecosystem & Sizing Reportvietnam.mmaglobal.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/mma...Alipay and Samsung Pay in 2017: Growing and more engaged app usage backed by burgeoning smartphone

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Mobile Ecosystem

& Sizing ReportVietnam 2017/8

Foreword As in many countries around the world, media

consumption in Vietnam has changed radically, and

the influence of mobile and digital consumers cannot

be denied. The consumers are forcing digital

transformation with the use of mobile devices and with

the demand for personal mobile experiences.

Consequently, brands need to reinvent mobile

marketing that will help serve the expectations of an

increasingly mobile first population via this

transformation.

For marketers, mobile is the biggest opportunity of our

time to give consumers the exceptional discovery,

engagement and purchasing experiences they

demand – all while gaining a competitive edge. For

publishers and technology providers, mobile is the great

enabler, allowing brands and agencies to reach and

target their consumers and build profiles and data

points to ensure their mobile marketing works

effectively.

Smartphone is the singular device which helps rural

areas of Vietnam to access the internet; this will drive

mobile ad spend growth in sectors like FMCG, e-

commerce, auto and mobile wallets to tap the new

consumers coming on board. The growth of data-led

smartphones is also likely to lead to an inclusive

economy in rural parts of the country, where

smartphones will act like a bank, a school, a shop and

much more for people.

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With this unprecedented mobile growth, we also see

dramatic lifestyle changes. It’s hard to imagine a day

without uploading/sharing a photo with friends/family,

navigating the streets without a mobile map, watching

your favorite shows at the time and place that you

want. And this change in lifestyle is making brands and

advertisers in Vietnam create immersive experiences for

their consumers on mobile using several technologies

(Programmatic, location data, audio beacon

technology, video, re-targeting, analytics and much

more.)

With so much action, it’s sometimes hard for marketers

to keep pace and comprehend the possibilities of

mobile as a marketing medium. Through this report, our

attempt is to create the first single source of the mobile

marketing ecosystem in Vietnam that can help

marketers, students, tech enthusiasts and journalists to

gain meaningful insights on the entire ecosystem that

drives the mobile story in Vietnam.

Hope you enjoy the read!

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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Key Trends and Insights

Part I: Introduction to Mobile Marketing in Vietnam

Part II: Reach of mobile among consumers in Vietnam

Part III: Mobile adspends in Vietnam

Part IV: Optimizing advertising creative for mobile

Part V: Mobile phone consumer behavior and persona in Vietnam

Part VI: Mobile App ecosystem in Vietnam

Annexure

Acknowledgement

Disclaimer

Page 4

Page 5

Page 19

Page 25

Page 29

Page 34

Page 39

Page 47

Page 65

Page 66

Key Trends

and Insights

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Growing penetration and data usage in both urban and

rural is fueling significant growth in mobile ad spend:

With the dominant role of mobile in digital media

consumption in Vietnam, a high and still growing

smartphone penetration in both urban (>80%) and rural

areas (>60%), and with 4G coming into real service in

2017 (with about 3.5 million users so far and continuing

to grow), there has been a significant growth in mobile

ad spend volume. The proportion of mobile spend as a

% of total digital spend for clients is as high as 50-60%,

even up to 80% for some specific clients/brands which

have a target audience who are mobile heavy users.

This shows an impressive growth (almost double) vs last

year where mobile ad spend often accounted for

about 20-40% of total digital spend of each

client/brand. This growing trend is expected to

continue in the coming years.

Increase in 3G/4G penetration in Vietnam will help to

enrich user’s content consumption on mobile, and

accordingly, will continue potential growth for diverse

mobile ad solutions:

High smartphone penetration in both urban (>80%) and

rural areas (>60%), and the launch of 4G in 2017 also

mean users are having a better chance to consume

richer and more diverse content on mobile.

Accordingly, there is a significant potential of higher

consumption for video, audio and streaming content

on mobile and the mobile content platforms

(e.g. local Zing) will certainly grow, as well as social

platforms that provide video, audio and streaming

content like Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, etc and

huge potential growth for diverse mobile ad solutions

(mobile video, native advertising) follows.

Mobile app usage in Vietnam will continue to grow,

especially with a developing e-commerce landscape

and more active online payment market joining by

Alipay and Samsung Pay in 2017:

Growing and more engaged app usage backed by

burgeoning smartphone and mobile internet

penetration, is leading to a growing community who

are favouring a mobile app economy in Vietnam.

Whilst music, games, chat/instant messengers, social

networks and photography are noted as the most

popular app categories installed by Vietnamese users,

currently about 30% of Vietnamese online shopping

users shop through mobile apps. There is high potential

growth for online shopping apps with the current

increasing attention for e-commerce development in

the market among industry players and especially the

arrival of Alipay and Samsung Pay 2017 to enrich the

digital payment options in the market.

Part I: Introduction

and

definition of

Mobile

Marketing in

Vietnam

2017 has been a very exciting time for mobile marketing in Vietnam and 2018 looks set to continue that journey for the industry. We have seen a surge across various dimensions of the mobile ecosystem – be it smartphones, mobile subscribers, mobile data penetration, native advertising on mobile, advertising spends on mobile, video content and much more. There have been several reports written to date that talk about mobile marketing in Vietnam. However, we felt there has been no single report which comprehensively covers the mobile marketing ecosystem in Vietnam and provides insights to marketers to help them better understand the medium. This report by MMA Vietnam in collaboration with GroupM, Google, Facebook, Kantar Media, Gameloft and Zalo Group is our attempt to address this gap.

Our objective through this report is to give readers a comprehensive view of the mobile marketing ecosystem in Vietnam and the various factors that influence its growth in recent years such as the rise of mobile and smartphone users, mobile internet users, mobile app users, the development of mobile internet infrastructure like 4G service introduction, the increasingly diverse mobile marketing channels

and solutions, etc.

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Objective of the Research

Rohit Dadwal, Managing Director, MMA Asia Pacific

The future of advertising in Vietnam is taking shape with mobile at the centre of

this growth. Today, Vietnam is one of the strongest growth markets for mobile ad

spending in the region, and is set to double mobile ad spend due to heavy

smartphone adoption.

I'm heartened that this is the first time the industry is coming together in Vietnam to

pull together this report, and I believe it will set the benchmark for upcoming

developments in the industry.

MMA remains highly committed to this market, and we look forward to building a

stronger and bigger MMA in Vietnam. The efforts and collective stewardship of our

members are commendable, and I would like to thank all business leaders and

especially the co-chairs for advancing Vietnam's mobile agenda.

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A bird’s eye view of

what’s instore for

our readers

Ed Thesiger, Co-Chair MMA Vietnam and CEO GroupM Vietnam & Indonesia

Due to the extraordinary pace of change impacting the industry at present, and in order

to remain relevant, this Mobile Ecosystem and Sizing Report will by definition be a

constantly evolving reference guide. In this first edition of the report, multiple data

sources have been utilized in addition to commentary from key stakeholders from across

the mobile ecosystem in Vietnam. The picture painted depicts mobile as a vibrant,

dynamic and rapidly evolving communications tool, yet at the same time also highlights

many of the challenges, such as 3rd party measurement and brand safety, that still need

to be overcome if it is to truly fulfill it’s potential.

"

"

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Methodology of the

Research

The report is based upon both primary and secondary data and information sourced from its key contributors: GroupM, MMA, Kantar Media, Google, Facebook, Gameloft and Zalo Group. Below is the list of all reports that have been referred to:

1. Vietnam Telecommunications Authority reports 2016-20172. Ministry of Information and Communication reports 2016-20173. GroupM TYNY (This Year Next Year) report 20174. GroupM 3D research 2013-20175. Ericsson Mobility Report 20176. GSMA Intelligence Report 20177. eMarketer

- Mobile Ad Spending Share of Digital Ad Spending Worldwide, 2016-2021- Ad Spending in South East Asia, new forecast for an emerging digital region, 2017

8. Kantar Media VN National MHS 2104, 20169. Kantar Media Vietnam TGI Q1201710. Ericsson Consumer Lab Analytical Platform – 2016 11. Global Web Index 201612. TNS/Google Smartphone Apps Research Vietnam13. Millward Brown Ad Reaction Study14. Newzoo 201715. DI Marketing 2016

16. W&S Group, May 201617. Adtima Audience Insight and Appota 201718. Google Barometer 2017

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Channels that

define Mobile

Marketing/

Advertising

SMSA standard for telephony messaging systems that

allow sending messages between mobile devices

that consists of short messages, normally with text

only content.

Benefits:

1. Crisp – Explains purpose & user response

expectation in 160 characters

2. Economical - Cheaper than many other digital

media vehicles

3. Ease of use – All mobile users are aware of how

SMS works

4. Mass reach – 100% of mobile phone users can be

reached via this medium

5. Save for later – An SMS gets stored in phone for

later reference

Limitations:

1. Linguistic challenge: There are challenges in

delivering customized language (script) messages

2. Targeting: Third party databases are not a reliable

source for reaching a specified TG

3. Passive communication: Requires user involvement

for a CTA fulfilment

4. User Pays : Cost implication for end user

P/S Anti Cavity – Helping Vietnamese Rural change

brushing habit to prevent cavity

• Focus on rural area applying “micro-targeting at scale” in

sms

• Reached 50% total TA in Mekong delta and South East

across mobile advertising network (1.3 million users)

• CTR of 3% with 30 times higher performance

(engagement and response rates) vs industry average

benchmarks.

• Brand equity score of +300bpt or +3% on the attribute of

“helping families improve their brushing habits” and

+100bpt or +1% towards “preventing cavities” as

compared to 2016.

• Rural uplift of +240bpt i.e. +2.4%.

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Mobile AppSoftware solutions that power the business logic for

mobile marketing initiative(s).

Benefits:

1. Seamless user experience

2. Can serve utility or innovative/experiential

engagement

3. Long sustaining customer relationship and

sustenance via offers and content

4. High TOM - Users download app for a specific

purpose therefore their top of mind recall for the

app is high

Limitations:

1. Multiple Operating Systems

2. Costly application development

3. Driving traffic and downloads requires additional

marketing budgets

PEPSI - SING YOUR OWN MUSIC MOMENT WITH REAL LIFE

TARGETING

• Reach 60% Pepsi-ers.

• Top 1 social buzz.

• ~ 200,000 app installs (45% achieved organically)

• Nearly 100,000 contestants join Karaoke Idols challenge

• +6 points TOM, + 4points brand love vs year ago.

• +4 points Refreshing

• +7 points MUSIC ASSOCIATION

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Mobile VideoVideo as a creative type overcomes one of the

biggest objections to mobile ads: using sight, sound,

and motion to tell a brand’s story overcomes the

limitations of screen size. Moreover, it builds a

dynamic, immersive, rich media ad that works across

the fragmented mobile interactive landscape.

Benefits:

A stunning and captivating way for publishers and

content creators to share immersive stories

1. Increased share-ability

2. Marketers can take a deep dive into analytics

3. Share, views, complete views, likes and other

social interaction all metrics that marketers love to

know about

4. With vertical video now rising, more and more

people will consume videos on mobile as they

usually use mobile without tilting the screen

horizontally

Limitations:

Viewer has an option to skip the video ads

1. Non skippable video ads may make the user hop

onto another video

2. Many ads are inserted in single video so there is a

lot of competition. Therefore, marketers have to

go that extra mile to create great content

Masan Utilizes Video Content via Chuyện Kể Bé Nghe

Utilize mobile friendly content to reach the centrepiece of

every family (the kids!)

• 8.3 million views

• Reach over 1.5 million viewers

• 1 million minutes has been spent per episode

• ~ 60% of all minutes watched on mobile devices (39%

mobile + 20% on tablets).

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Native AdvertisingNative ads give you the control to design the perfect

ad units for any channel (across social, video, audio,

search, text and is not limited to a platform). With our

Native Ad API, you can determine the look and feel,

size and location of your ads. Because you decide

how the ads are formatted, ads can fit seamlessly in

your application.

Benefits:

Native advertising benefits publishers, advertisers and

the audience

1. Allows for advertisements to be unobtrusive

2. Higher audience engagement leading to better

CTRs

Limitations:

1. Native is a new advertising format and therefore

marketers don’t know how to read its

performance and where to benchmark it

2. Higher spends on creating good content

Samsung Galaxy S8 - Time To Move On

• Reached 13 million of TA in 4 weeks.

• > 850,000 people engaged with the platform (90% from

mobile).

• > 10,000 users created their personalized videos. 23% of

them decided to move on. 6.5 times return on ads spend.

• Generated 2,197,511 buzz, Galaxy S8 among the Top 3

campaigns in Vietnam in April, June and July.

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Rich MediaRich media is a digital advertising term for an ad that

includes advanced features like video, audio, or

other elements that encourage viewers to interact

and engage with the content.

Benefits:

Interactive & Dynamic capability: High on interaction

catering to audio, video, animation.

1. Play me: The RM banner can be a playable

format with a gratification fulfilment

2. Powerful branding: Even if the ad isn’t clicked on,

viewers are still more likely to see and remember

the ad than traditional display advertising

Limitations:

1. Size heavy: Takes time to load, need good

internet connection to work seamlessly

2. High risk on ad blockage

Bring your LUCK this TET with CASTROL

• Viral clip: total 66 MILLION VIEWs in 6 weeks, equated to

$160,000 earned media value.

Cost per View: $0.0054 vs. $0.0091 of benchmark.

• Facebook REACH totaled 49% of our total Vietnamese

population, engagement ratio of 1.85% (vs. benchmark

of 1.5%).

• One of top 6 Ads on social media with budget of only

25% of the big spenders in the list.

• Positive Audience response at 95%

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Loyalty ProgramA loyalty program is a rewards program offered by a

company to customers who frequently make

purchases in this case purchased on the mobile app.

A loyalty program may give a customer advanced

access to new products, special sales coupons or

free merchandise.

Benefits:

1. Brand love: Caters to loyal users who want to be a

part of the brand platform

2. Stickyness: Increases repeat usage with engaging

content and useful info

3. Gold class: Increase customer loyalty and future

sales, helps in up-selling

4. VIP feel good:No problems of carrying cards and

coupons they are present in your app virtually

Limitations:

Notional value: Many coupons are available only if

you make a bigger purchase, the consumer may feel

cheated and hence uninstall your app

Manage your FE CREDIT loan using Zalo chat app

Create Zalo Official Account of FE CREDIT with the

Interactive Customer Care Solution to provide a smart,

timely and automatic dialogue with the customers.

• In the first 2 months, 50% conversion rate of a million

customer being invited into followers

• > 150,000 customers actively registered to receive

personalized communication and frequently engage

with FE CREDIT Official Account.

• > 100,000 daily user interactions, equivalent to 20%

interaction rate (2x higher vs average).

• FE CREDIT saved over 5% of their SMS budget to more

dynamic interactions

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Location BasedIn Location targeting section, you can select the

name of one or more countries, states, provinces,

cities, congressional districts, zip codes (US only) or

post codes (internationally) to show your ads to

people in those locations. You can also choose a

radius within which the ads should be displayed.

Benefits:

1. Sharp targeting: Targets the customer when near

the store helps increase customer’s intention of a

buy

2. Share of competition: Marketers can target their

competition’s locations and try and get their

customers as well

3. Here i am: Improves your businesses search results

as well

Limitations:

1. Limited reach: Area to which you can target your

consumers is restricted

2. Data usage: Needs strong mobile data to use

maps

3. Limited market landscape: Not vastly available

everywhere

Note: Please refer to annexure for more channels

and definitions

Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro - Put The Lights On Rural

• Reached 15 million unique people.

8% engaged with “Own the Night” platform.

• > 600,000 played with the geo targeted filters in rural

towns, > 19,000 shared publicly, spreading town pride

vibe

• > 1 million social buzz and 85% share of voice

• 6.3 times higher sales growth in rural areas vs urban

• Samsung Galaxy J7Pro ranked #1 fastest selling

smartphone across all categories for 10 consecutive

weeks.

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Mobile Scape in Vietnam

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Mobile ecosystem

development in

Vietnam

Currently the landscape is divided into three major clusters, which at times overlap and supplement each other

1. The client facing industry

2. The ad-tech industry

3. The last mile connectors

The client facing industry, primarily consists of agencies and their technology partners. They focus on delivering the Best

KPI on advertising spends of brands.

The ad tech industry majorly consists of the two type of players, the one that work on top of operator delivery pipes –

SMS, IVR and OBDs and the segment that relies on mobile internet connections to reach out to publishers.

The last mile connectors are the ones which are used by end users for accessing any of the digital content or services.

Definitions of the terms used in the Mobile Scape:

Media Agencies – An agency works with brand owners to identify a

brand’s position, messaging and creative communication.

DSPs – Demand Side Platforms which focus on buying media for clients

with an aim to increase the return on spends. They generally comprised of

a manual trading desk as well as a programmatic buying channel called

real time bidding platform.

Ad networks – Advertising networks were the purest form of networks,

where a single network would interact on both sides the brands and

publishers and would then match the demand to supply. The DSP, SSP and

trading desks are the evolved versions of the ad-networks.

Exchanges – Exchanges are the platforms which are connected to several

DSPs and SSPs. They are generally used for increasing the reach on either

the demand or supply side.

DMPs – Data Management Platforms are platforms that aggregate

user level data and help DSPs as well as SSPs in making bid level

decisions of pricing, biding, bid winning probabilities as well as the

conversion probabilities at each impression level.

SSPs – Supply side platforms are the counter parts of the DSPs. They

are the media selling platforms, with a focus on increasing the

publisher revenue. They generally comprised of a manual trading

desk as well as a programmatic selling channel called real time

auction platforms.

Social Media and Instant Messaging platforms – a dedicated website

or other application which enables users to communicate with each

other by posting information, comments, messages, images, etc.

Content Aggregators: A content aggregator is an app or a web

service that gathers content from different sources for reuse or re-

monetization.

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Definitions continued:

Mobile Gaming – A video game played on mobile phone, tablet or portable media player

Mobile Browsers – A mobile browser is a web browser designed for use on a mobile device such as a mobile phone or PDA. Mobile browsers are

optimized so as to display Web content most effectively for small screens on portable devices.

Rich media platforms – they are the creative suits required to create, host and manage the delivery of the specialized ad units. The rich media ad

units allow a user to interact with the elements of the creative.

Location Tech – ad technology platforms used for enriching the targeting and decision making part of the ad serving using location data of the

users.

Measurement and Analytics platforms – Third party measurement and attribution platforms which act as an unbiased delivery measurement tools.

Carriers/ISPs – Wireless communication service providers which owns or controls all elements necessary to sell and deliver services to the end user.

Devices – Manufacturers or marketers of portable computing devices like smartphones and tablets.

Operating System – Software specifically designed to run on mobile devices such as mobile phones, smartphones, tablets.

App Stores – Digital distribution platform for mobile apps.

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Mobile Scape 2017

Development

Content Consumption on Mobile

With high smartphone penetration in both urban

(>80%) and rural areas (>60%), and that 4G comes

into real service in 2017 (with about 3.5 million users so

far and will continue to grow), users are having a

better chance to consume more rich content pieces

on mobile. Accordingly, there is a big potential of

higher consumption for video, audio and streaming

content on mobile and the mobile content platforms

(e.g. local Zing) will certainly grow, as well as social

platforms that provide video, audio and streaming

content like Facebook, Youtube, Instagram,etc.

Measurement, Analytics & Data Driven Approach

While the share of mobile spends in clients’ media

budget is increasing, there is a need to push for more

effectiveness in media buying operations as well as

post-delivery analysis. In addition, Youtube’s issue

early in 2017 with the ad served in non-brandsafe

video content was a big hit on Advertiser’s awareness

and require the industry players to make brandsafety

and third party tracking/verification a high priority in

their offerings. There is certainly a high potential for

measurement, ad tracking/verification, analytics and

data collection platforms to address this need of the

market which is getting more sophisticated and

clients are getting more critical in digital marketing

budget consideration.

Programmatic Media Buying

Players in programmatic media buying (DSPs, SSPs,

DMPs, Exchanges, Ad network, Ad servers, etc.) will

continue to grow given the current adoption of the

market for programmatic buying with data-driven

approach for more effective and efficient media

buying. The key benefit of choosing programmatic is

reaching the right audience for advertiser, using data

to help define its audience and reaching a broad

audience across sites or channels and optimizing

campaign real-time at scale, accordingly reduce

wastage of media buy. Data (demographic, interest,

stage of purchase cycle, time or context) is critical and

is the key to ensuring this works. Therefore, collecting

data about their audience will help advertisers to have

better control over their targeting, re-targeting, better

actionable insights and build their audience profile to

use for any next campaigns. Advertisers will also be

able to derive insights from their programmatic

campaigns to see what’s working and what’s not for

their media campaigns as well as other areas of

marketing. This isn’t just about media effectiveness but

also creative effectiveness – what are the right

messages for different audiences? How advertiser can

take those learnings and apply them to the other parts

of their marketing strategy? And with performance

marketing, marketers can have their media budgets

paid upon sales results.

Part II: Reach of

mobile

among

consumers in

Vietnam

In the history of the human race no technology has ever surpassed the number of people in the world, not even

watches which are said to be omnipresent. However, mobile has been the only phenomena to have created such an

effect. By the end of 2014, the global mobile connections surpassed the global human population, where the total

mobile connections were at 7.4 billion which was 1.8% more than the global human population at 7.2 billion. This is

expected to grow further in future, where it is estimated that the global mobile connections will increase by almost 30%

to 9.1 billion by 2021.

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Source: World Bank (2014)

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1 billion mobile connections and counting; mobile emerging as

the gateway to the connected world:

India and China, the world’s most populous countries, with over a

billion people each have crossed the landmark of 1 billion mobile

connections. China reached this benchmark in 2012, while India

crossed the 1 billion mark by the end of 2015.

urban and rural areas.

Source: Kantar Media Vietnam National MHS 2014, 2016

Mobile phone ownership - Base Population 15-54 years old: Phones ownership by phone types - Base Population

15-54 years old

It is reported that mobile subscription in Vietnam is 124.7 million by

Telco operators versus a 92.7 million population by GSO in

Vietnam.

According to the National Media Habits Survey conducted by

Kantar Media in 2016, almost every home has at least a mobile

phone. Individually, 95% of population in the age of 15-54 years old

across the country owns a mobile phone. The majority (88%) use

pre-paid services. Smartphone ownership bypasses the feature phone numbers both in urban and rural areas.

Though smartphone ownership has increased dramatically from

34% in 2014 to 60% in 2016, 3G services subscription is limited to

33% nationwide, with Hanoi the exception where 53% of

Hanoians use 3G services.

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3G services subscription – Base Population 15-54 years old:

Source: Kantar Media Vietnam National MHS 2016

Mobile connections by type – base on the number of

connections/subscriptions

Source: Gameloft

Tran Thi Thanh Mai, CEO Kantar Media

Vietnam & Cambodia

It is fascinating to see how fast mobile

phones have penetrated across the country.

I could hardly believe that 99% of homes in

Vietnam has at least one mobile phone.

"

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Most mobile users use pre-paid services and when asked what is

the major factor affecting their choice of service provider, 58%

responded “Network signal”. According to GSMA Intelligence

Assessment of the country’s key enablers and drivers of mobile

connectivity as illustrated in Graph 5, the consumer readiness is

quite high at almost 73% whilst the mobile network infra structure

represents a lagging stage at 39.72% only. It is more a question

for network improvement, not consumer devices.

GSMA Mobile Connectivity Index

Hoang Dat, Regional Business Director Gameloft

Vietnam is one of the fastest growing mobile markets in the

world; Smartphones penetration increases surprisingly; 90% of

smartphones shipments is Android while Apple represent 8%

Thanks to 4G technology, the quality in terms of connectivity

is much better. Vietnamese spends more than 2 ½ hours a

day for Internet via Mobile devices. Top activity on

Smartphone are Social network (95%), Game (82%),

Watching Movie, Clip (80.6%). Vietnam’s mobile market will

keep growing and there is no doubt that its mobile

marketing will boom soon!

"

Going beyond the phone calls:

In Vietnam, the percentage of smartphone users involved in

internet browsing, social networking, internet voice/video calls,

playing mobile games, watching short and full-length videos and

streaming music online on a smartphone is higher than the global

average.

Services used on smart phone on a weekly basis – base internet

users who use smart phones age 15 – 69

Source: Ericsson ConsumerLab Analytical Platform-2016,

Vietnam

Mobile has become a game changer in the media and

communication field. Out of 115.3 minutes spent by an average

Vietnamese on line by various devices, 80.6 minutes are

accounted to mobile phones. This trend is observed stronger in

the key urban cities like Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City

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Average number of minutes spent using media per person per

day, 2014-2016. Base - Population 15-54 years

Source: Kantar Media Vietnam National MHS 2014, 2016

Watching on line video is the most sought activity by mobile

surfers followed by social networking and music sites.

Online Activities by Mobile phone surfer – base internet users in

Hanoi, Danang, HCMC and Can Tho

Source: Kantar Media Vietnam TGI – Q12017

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Anand Krishnan, MD Mediacom Vietnam

Democratization of the mobile phone has

been the single biggest disruption in the 21st

century. Even as consumers continue to

spend more time with the device,

threatening the efficacy of traditional

touchpoints, the opportunities presented are

immense. Today mobile phones are

unparalleled on parameters - ability to reach

across demographics (there is something for

everyone) and ability to impact every stage

of the P2P. Mobile’s role as a

Reach/Awareness driver is now fairly

established and in the coming years we will

see heightened usage of transaction led

marketing with the device.

Le Thi Thanh Huyen

Head of Media, Unilever Vietnam

With Mobile now being the primary access

gateway to internet, if not the only medium

for many rural consumers, marketers are

urged to rethink their content creation

process. How to get audience attention in

their “me time” when they are totally in

control of what to see? Does it start with TV

and end with Digital or should we think

Mobile First? Is Content being viewable on

mobile good enough or should it be really

designed for mobile? All these bring a unique

challenge for e-marketers to stay relevant in

today’s fast-paced digital world.

"

"

Part III: Mobile

Adspends in

Vietnam

An Industry Perspective

In 2017, there had been a significant growth in the rate of

mobile spend vs digital spend for clients, the number

mentioned most by key industry players interviewed for our

report is 50-60%, or even 80% for some specific

clients/brands which have their target audience who are

mobile heavy users. This shows an impressive growth

(almost double) vs last year where mobile ad spend often

accounted for about 20-40% of total digital spend of

each client/brand.

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38.5

77.1

138.7

194.2

215.5

231.7

0

50

100

150

200

250

2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

Vietnam Mobile Ad Spending (US$ million)

Source: eMarketer, October 2017 (Note:

Includes display (banners, video and rich

media) and search; excludes SMS, MMS

and P2P messaging-based advertising;

includes ad spending on tablets)

FMCG sector continues to be the largest contributor to

this growth.

In terms of volume, eMarketer estimates a total volume

of US$77.1 million for mobile adspend for the whole

market in 2017, double the number of 2016 (US$38.5

million).

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The growth in mobile adspend is driven by the growth of digital

spend in general (accounting for around 24% total media spend

in 2017 compared to 16% in 2016, according to GroupM’s 2017

This Year Next Year report). Significant opportunities derive from

the increasingly dominant role of mobile in digital media

consumption in Vietnam with mobile internet penetration as high

as 80% in urban areas. Mobile is considered very important in

helping brands to penetrate or expand their penetration and

sales into rural areas where untapped sales potentials are

available, given the fact that rural accounts for 65% of Vietnam’s

total population.

According to GroupM’s Vietnam Touchpoint Research in 2017,

which studies media and product consumption across 30

cities/provinces in Vietnam, mobile internet penetration for rural is

64% and people spend more than 80 minutes on a typical day for

mobile internet (compared to 90 minutes for internet in general

and more than 100 minutes for TV), with top 5 most popular

activities being social networking, reading news online, instant

messaging, listening to music and watching TV/video online. With

this high consumption on mobile device, how to best leverage

effectively mobile ad spend investment in rural is certainly one

focus that most agencies and marketers are striving to unlock.

However, the growth of mobile ad spend in Vietnam does not

occur without challenges. Mobile ad measurement is still a

challenge in the market. Some clients are also still

conservative when making decisions on mobile media

investment with the issues of transparency, viewability, brand

safety still critical in digital advertising in genera,l and

especially more critical in mobile advertising.

There are also issues of mobile inventory (both quantity and

quality) and performance. Another challenge often being

questioned by clients and industry players is how to maximize

its effectiveness/ROI and justify business results driven by

mobile advertising.

Hung Vo, VP Marketing Biti’s Vietnam"

The topline numbers from this report reconfirms our

belief in shifting our marketing agenda into mobile in

such a much more connected country as Vietnam

nowadays. The significantly changing sophistication

in the connectivity & mobile behavior of consumers

definitely adds more challenges to our job but it’s

also more exciting.

27

Animesh Kumar, Head of Digital, Mindshare Vietnam

Mobile is the lead platform fueling the digital growth and

the content consumption in Vietnam. As per TNS

Connected world, 92% use mobile to access digital in

Vietnam as compared to the global benchmark of 82%.

Most of the brands would want to penetrate into rural

and expand their reach and mobile definitely would

help this. New users on digital are coming onboard

through mobile and hence it would be fair say that

Vietnam is a mobile first nation. There are different

behaviors being exhibited by the consumers on mobile

like use of chat applications (50% of total digital time

spent are on chat), playing games (huge audience pool

across the target audience including mothers, teens etc

play games and are highly engaged there), watching

videos and entertaining themselves (300+ videos are

watched on an average by Vietnamese online per

month) and almost 90% of the digital population access

social network on mobile in Vietnam. All these open

huge opportunities for brands to engage with their

consumers on the respective platform customized to

behavior on each of these platforms.

The diverse variety of the behavior of the consumers

offers huge opportunity but at the same time huge

challenges as well. The content served to the consumers

on the respective platform has to be relevant to their

behavior on the platform. E.g. serving TVC on social may

not be a good idea as consumers are less likely to view

but at the same time short and simple messages on

social could work well for the brand recall or top of mind

or even for leading to specific call to action like lead

generation, sampling or e-com sales.

"

Measurement on mobile is another big challenge which we

all are trying to sort out. While technology players like

Comscore have mastered the desktop and measurements

are more or less accurate, there is still a long way to go for

measurement on mobile.

The biggest challenge however is of transparency, brand

safety and validation or the delivery through third party

tracking tools. Viewability is the biggest issue when it comes to

mobile and large publishers need to cooperate and allow

third party tracking to ensure more trust in the medium. Brand

safety, such as ensuring only the safe content, legal music

with copyright etc. are distributed by the publishers and allow

the brands to associate with right content and in safer

environment.

The content consumption has led to the increase in spends

on mobile. We have grown 100% of our spends on mobile

compared to the last 2 years of spend. For campaigns with

predominantly reach based objectives, mobile has been the

hero and attracting more than 60% spends on mobile, while

for the direct response led activity, desktop and mobile has

even contribution. From a messaging point of view, longer

duration video messages desktop plays important role while

mobile is a great medium for delivering short messages.

From cookie based measurement to mobile device id based

tracking there is a challenge currently in having one universal

ID to track and serve ads to understand the effective reach in

unduplicated ways. GroupM is already taking a lead and

have developed mPlatform which aggregates different

technology partners to put together a platform which helps

bridge the current gap to great extent. The same investment

from the publisher’s side on technology is much required.

28

Dung Nguyen, Head of Digital –

Wavemaker Vietnam

Our mobile adspend rate vs digital spend

has risen nearly 2 times from 2016 to 2017,

mainly because of increases in social and

messaging platforms. Unlike e-com or

game industry, the majority of clients still

consider mobile as a channel to build

awareness and simple interaction

(campaign activities, promotion, etc.). It

will make tough task for agency next year

with more brands budget plus more

mobile content making mobile markting

become very cluttered.

Wavemaker considers mobile platform as

edge for brand to understand netizen

behavior as well as connect brand

experience with consumer. Remember

that mobile behavior is unique and totally

different with PC, it varies by audience

segments as well as platform (social,

messaging, news, video, etc.);

understand this pattern not only valuable

for media but also brand to unlock new

way to connect… to operate on mobile

we always search for mobile receptive

moments, it can be either opportunity for

brand to raise awareness or drive deep

engagement.”

"

Gurpreet Wadhwa, Head of Digital – Wavemaker Vietnam

Growth in digital spends for our clients enable us to grow

mobile ad spend accordingly. We have decent pace of

double digit YOY growth in digital spends and mobile screen

being first port of touch for large chunk of consumers in

Vietnam there is huge untapped potential for this media to

grow and yet to leverage fully it as a real marketing channel.

In addition, high time spent across demographics and

increasing penetration of mobile devices in rural areas

consumers in Vietnam is building a positive sentiment among

our clients to try/ test this media for their future campaigns.

However there are three challenges for increasing mobile ad

spend that we can identify.

First is lack of trust in mobile universe beyond giants. Our

mobile spends are skewed towards Facebook and Google. It

is mostly because of platform priority than device priority.

Clients still have low trust in other mobile networks because of

various reasons like - high proliferation of mobile ad networks

with no real differentiation, lack of attribution transparency,

lack of analytical tools, low conversion on mobile etc…

Second, is the small size of screen : It is perceived to be least

effective screen for advertising because of its small size in

comparison to other channels which brings in reluctance

towards this media. Third, is that creative agencies are not

ready – most of the traditional creative agencies are still not

ready with mobile first creative approach. They still continue

to adapt TV/ print creatives to mobile campaigns.

I believe there is lot to do to win client’s trust by addressing the

challenges as mentioned above and need to unlock the real

potential of mobile as a pragmatic marketing channel.

"

Part IV: Optimizing

advertising

creative for

mobile

29

"William Nguyen, Business Development Manager,

Facebook

For better mobile campaign effectiveness, there is a

necessity to optimize clients/brands’ advertisements

for mobile and to create mobile-friendly ads that

drive performance and branding results for

clients/brands. Mobile creative optimization is very

important.

The rapid rise of mobile as an advertising medium

has challenged everything we have learned about

how to capture attention and tell stories. Advertisers

had decades to get familiar with and proficient on

traditional mediums like TV, but mobile is presenting a

whole new set of opportunities and challenges.

Mobile consumption is non-linear. If

you are reading a magazine, or

watching a TV show, you will see the

contents from top to bottom, from

beginning to end. For mobile,

people have the tendency of

shifting constantly between

contents. For example, they are

spending on average only 1.7

seconds for each story seen on

Facebook’s Mobile News Feed.

The implication of this, is that we

need to rethink our way of creating

media for mobile. The traditional

“best practices” are no longer best.

30

One key paradigm shift that mobile brings about is in the way stories are told in

videos. For a traditional TV commercial, a video starts out slowly – then

gradually, the story builds up, and finally, the peak occurs with the main brand

message and product placement. However, given the short time span that

people spend on a piece of content on mobile, it is vital that the key

message, brand, and product come first and foremost, and the subsequent

scenes further the initial idea.

Various platforms, both international and domestic, have realized this

movement towards mobile and have designed placements that are specific

for mobile. From Facebook, Google to local ad networks and publishers, you

can see a significant amount of ad formats that are more native to the mobile

environment: images and videos optimized for the vertical phone screen,

more immersive graphics, and designed for a sound-off environment

Traditional story telling in TVC video Modern story telling in mobile video

31

Nguyen Quoc Tuan, CO-founder and CMO, JUNO

At JUNO, we have noticed the consistent increase

of the mobile part of our traffic. Today, mobile

makes up 80% of visits and more than half of our

website purchases.

It is only natural that we should optimize the

entrance of our websites and apps, which is

advertisements [….] We have noticed a number of

companies in other categories that are moving fast

in improving their creatives to optimize their mobile:

California Fitness, Mobile World, Topica among

others.

"

How to optimize your creatives for mobile

A sub-optimal frame can harm the ad campaign in multiple

ways. An example is the Red Bull ad on Facebook on the right.

It is not maximizing the full vertical real estate of the screen, and

risk losing viewability to the story immediately below it. JUNO is looking to follow their footsteps and optimize our

creatives for mobile, starting with adding more subtitles to

our videos and design them for the sound-off mobile video

environment.

The mobile screen is vertical, unlike the horizontal TV screen –

therefore, putting your usual 16:9 TVC or poster on it will not be

optimal. Instead, you can consider remixing your video or

editing your images to fully capture the available real estate.

Images and videos with 1:1 and 4:5 are best for the vertical

environment and is supported by Facebook, Google and local

ad networks.

32

Another fundamental element of a mobile-optimized ad is in its ability to capture people’s attention quickly when

looking at it. With the short time that users spend on each story (remember, they spend only 1.7 seconds on each piece

of content!), it is highly recommended that you bring the key elements of the ad campaigns front and center: be it

your key message, your brand or your products. That way, even if users choose to skip after the first few seconds, they

would still be exposed to the core spirit of the ad.

Another corollary of the short mobile attention span is video length: shorter videos formats like 6-second and 15-

second tends to generate higher completion rates, ensuring that the whole message gets through to viewers.

We also recommend you to think about how to express the creativity of your ads via the canvases that mobile ad

platform provides.

Introduced for the first time to the mass audience by Facebook in 2013, silent autoplay videos are gaining popularity

with local publishers, including giant media corporations like VCCorp, FPT Media, 24H. Yet, according to an internal

Facebook research, 76% of video advertisements currently are not optimized for a sound-off environment. Such sub-

optimal videos are likely to lose people’s attention quickly, given the short amount of time people spend on each

piece of content.

The simplest first step you can take towards the right direction is adding subtitles to your video ads. From there, you

can tale it a step further, and incorporating text as part of your video creative – ie telling your story in a visual way.

Finally, when the content is complete, do a final creative review and ask yourself: Can you catch the key message

without turning sound on?

33

Duong Ngoc Dung, Head of marketing &

communications, VIB Bank

We all need to change and adapt to the

new mobile-first world: from redesigning

our website to be mobile friendly, to

changing our creative assets to cater to

the longer mobile screen.

Optimizing creatives for mobile has made

a big impact on VIB. Just about 6 months

ago, we are seeing engagement on our

Facebook page flat-lining, and desktop

still accounts for more than half of all web

traffic. Along with our agencies, we

decided to change our approach:

moving from the traditional horizontal 16:9

frame to square and vertical frames, and

focus on bringing the main points in the

videos forward.

The new approach has paid off - mobile

traffic surged by 1.5X to surpass desktop

traffic consistently. Mobile is now more

than 60% of all web visits that we have in

the last 30 days. Best of all, people are

more engaged with the new format -

Facebook engagement and reach have

increased by 40% compared to before.

We are very happy with the results, and

moving forward, we are requiring that all

of our current and new agencies support

this new, mobile optimized creative

approach.

"

Mobile World Vietnam example:

The retailer shortened its original 4-part TV commercial into a 15-

second video featuring fast-paced cuts of key frames to capture

viewers’ attention. For another recut video, Mobile World Vietnam

used Facebook's carousel ads to creatively display 4 story arcs in the

ad.

Using mobile-optimised video on Facebook, Mobile World Vietnam

launched a new 4G plan that delivered a significant uplift in ad

recall and sales. Mobile is today the new normal for Vietnamese

consumers, and we successfully optimised our TV commercial for the

small screen by appealing to their viewing habits.

Part V: Mobile

phone

consumer

behavior

and persona

in Vietnam

Vietnam is going from Mobile first to Smartphone first. By

the end of 2017, nearly 65% of the population of

Vietnamese owned a mobile phone. In 2015, half the

mobile phones in Vietnam were feature phones. By

early 2018, 70% are smartphones. This is higher than

global and APAC averages - which are 53% and 50%

respectively. Vietnam will have about 45M people with

powerful computers in their hands (source - eMarketer).

Smartphones are the gateway to the internet. 85% of

internet users used smartphones to get online. The

pace of change is staggering. In 2013, only 13% of

internet users got online on their mobile phones.

Conversely, in 2013, 66% of users used a Desktop

computer to get online. This number is down to 19%

(source - GroupM 3D research 2013-2016).

They are everywhere. Smartphones are no longer just

an urban phenomenon. 44% of all smartphones in the

country are in rural areas. This means that every 3rd

person in rural areas now has a smartphone and this is

the source of a bulk of smartphone penetration growth

in the country.

34

Smartphones are sticky. On an average, Vietnamese

users are spending 2.5 hours on their mobile phones

everyday (source: Global Web Index 2016). 80% of this

time is spent online and is roughly evenly split between

Mobile Web (browser) and Mobile Apps (source: TNS /

Google Smartphone Apps Research Vietnam). In urban

Vietnam, prime time for Smartphone usage to access

the internet starts at 5pm and peaks between 8pm

and midnight (source - GroupM 3D research 2016).

In terms of frequency of access, ~70% of mobile

internet users access daily. This generally does not vary

across gender or younger age groups but does tail off

among the 35+ age group (source - GroupM 3D

research 2016).

Online video, shopping, gaming, messaging and social

are the main activities that Vietnamese users engage

in on their mobile phones.

35

Gaming. Smartphones are overwhelmingly the device

of choice when it comes to gaming with 72% of online

gamers in urban Vietnam preferring to play on their

phones over any other device (source - GroupM 3D

research 2016). 60% of smartphone users have 2-4

games installed on their phones preferring Action /

Adventure or Casino games (source - DI Marketing

2016) and 52% of users play 5 times a week or more

(source - Newzoo, 2017).

Messaging. 74% of smrtphone users in Vietnam users

use a messaging service more than once a week (GfK,

Jun 2016). Zalo and Facebook messenger are the most

installed apps featuring on 80% and 74% of all

smartphones in Vietnam respectively (DI Marketing, Jun

2016). Messaging is increasingly starting to play a role in

social commerce as well.

Social. Approximately 40M Vietnamese use social

media (eMarketer, Sep 2016) and it is one of the most

popular things to do on the internet (Kantar Media

Vietnam, May 2016). Smartphones play a critical role

here. 84% of users open a social media app daily (W&S

Group, May 2016).

Online Video. Vietnamese love watching video

content online. Vietnam consumes more online video

content as a proportion to offline video / TV content

than any other country in the world (source: Millward

Brown Ad Reaction Study). And they love watching this

video content on their mobile. ~70% of YouTube

watchtime in Vietnam is on mobile phones (source -

Google internal data). This is helped along by excellent

infrastructure in fast and reliable 3G/4G networks, a

pervasive free WiFi ecosystem and a seismic shift

towards on-demand viewing, away from appointment

viewing.

Shopping. With eCommerce players and multi-channel

retailers building better, faster and more secure mobile

experiences for users, almost half of Vietnam’s online

shoppers shop as often on their mobile phones as they

would on their desktops. In 2013, only 6% of online

shoppers in Vietnam did this. 71% of online shoppers

actually prefer to use their smartphones to shop online

(source - GroupM 3D research 2016).

36

Social media and messaging have highest usage and time spent, gaming and video also engaging

37

Profile of Smartphone users in Vietnam

38

Nitin Gajria, Country Manager, Google

Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos

Vietnam is seeing nearly 5M new internet

users every year. For most of these users,

mobile internet is the only internet they are

experiencing. Furthermore, with the

fantastic coverage and speed of 3G/4G

networks all over Vietnam, with near-

ubiquitous access to free and fast internet

in restaurants, coffee shops and retail

outlets, mobile internet will continue to be

the medium that advertisers will have to

understand and build for in the future.

"

Andrew Stephens, CEO Ambient Digital

APAC

Smartphone usage in Vietnam continues its

trajectory toward total domination. In the

last 2 years we have seen handset

purchase patterns shift dramatically away

from feature phones toward far more

advanced smartphones. This has been

driven by a combination of a burgeoning

middle class with more access to

disposable income to spend on advanced

smartphones as well as local and regional

handset manufactures introducing a

dizzying supply of cheap but powerful

smartphones at price points for almost

every other income level. The time for

talking about the mobile advertising

revolution in Vietnam is over. It’s well and

truly here.

"

Part VI: Mobile App

Ecosystem in

Vietnam

Burgeoning smartphone and mobile internet usage, a

growing developer community and the potential for

regional/localized and local apps are favouring a

mobile app economy growth in Vietnam.

According to TNS/Google Mobile App Marketing

Insights Report 2016, smartphone users in VN spend

nearly equal time on apps and websites in 2016

(around 50 minutes per day).

39

Vietnamese users install on average 33 apps on their

smartphones, on par with other developing countries in

the region (Indonesia, India, Thailand, Malaysia), but

fewer than other developed countries (for example

Korea: 53 apps, Singapore: 44 apps, China: 38 apps).

25% of the apps are used on a daily basis. While there is

uninstalling behavior for apps unused, but Vietnamese

users tend to install more apps than the number of the

apps they uninstall on average.

Music, games, chat/instant messengers, social

networks, photography are most popular apps

category installed by Vietnamese users, according to

GroupM’s 3D and Vietnam Touchpoint 2017 research.

For instant messaging, Facebook is the most popular

apps, followed by local Zalo, then Viber.

Also, according to TNS/Google Mobile App Marketing

Insights report in 2016, more than half of users in

Vietnam are comfortable with spending money on

apps, with 65% have made payments for Apps or In-

Apps with their Google Play store or iTunes App Store

Accounts at least once.

Around 20% pay subscriptions or make one-off

payments for digital media/entertainment content.

Around 80% users have bought a product or service

within an app (e.g. shoes, flight tickets, cabs, etc.) at

least once. About 30% of Vietnamese online shopping

users shop through mobile apps.

40

Below is the top B2C/B2B2C Apps list for Apple iOS &

Google Play in Q3 2017 by SimilarWeb as cited by

ecommerceIQ, where the new player Shopee app

surpassed Lazada to rank the number one in Q3

2017.

Together with the growth in online shopping, the

launch of Alipay and Samsung Pay app in Vietnam

in 2017 to join current digital payment market

leaders Payoo, MoMo, VNPT Pay, OnePay, and

ZaloPay will promise further growth in the M-

commerce market in the coming years.

THE WAY USERS INTERACT ON MOBILE APP

Vietnamese spend averagely 114 minutes daily on mobile, in which time-spent

on apps takes up a decent amount of time, according to Appota’s research.

Overall, Vietnamese use mobile apps mainly for communication, and social

interaction. However, other activities such as e-commerce, entertainment, and

reading online news also take up a relative amount of time compared to the

average time-spent on mobile.

Time-spent on app

41

Zalo’s perspective

on the mobile app

ecosystem in

Vietnam

42

FREQUENCY OF USING APP CATEGORIES

Similarly, the frequency of regular usage for

social, instant messaging & search applications

significantly overtake the entertainment & news

groups. Despite the lowest proportion of daily

usage, the e-commerce, travel and book

applications account for the highest percentage

of regular use.

User behaviors

Verbal: Activities include text such as chat Non-verbal: Other activities such as: newsfeed,

commercial,

e-commerce

43

DEVICE USAGE

In the five years since 2013, the smartphone penetration has overtaken the No. 1 position from

the PC with an impressive growth rate. The smartphone penetration, at this point of time, has

left the PC penetration far behind. Despite a very high growth rate in 2015, the proportion of

tablet users remains very small and starts showing a rapid decline in the past two years. This

forecast smartphone will still be the main focus of the market as of now and in a near future.

44

ZALO GROWTH RATE

Noticeably, Zalo's growth rate is much higher than smartphone penetration in Vietnam. This shows

that the speed of adaptation of Vietnamese users with mobile applications is very positive. Since

2015, Zalo grows almost three times faster than the growth rate of smartphones, and this growth is

continuing till 2017.

45

ZALO STICKER GROWTH RATE

Within a year, the number of stickers downloaded by Zalo users has almost doubled compared to the

previous year, indicating a significant increase in the need for communication via emoticons. The number of

stickers that users use daily during chat has increased by one third over the previous year. Compared with

the usage growth, as of now, the number of stickers in the sticker store also increased more than 60%.

46

Tina – Do Tran Diem Mien

Nestle VN – Digital & Integrated Mktg

Manager

Mobile leads the change of content

consumption. Mobile media is also

considered to be more personal than any

other channel. The major advantage of

this media as a tool of marketing is that it

will improve the chances of reaching

consumers directly with personalized

content. The real impact of a mobile

marketing campaign is the ability to

create massive amounts of good,

shareable content.

Sandip Roy, COO Denstu X Vietnam

A fantastic maiden attempt to bring

credible data support as a single point of

reference for all marketers and media

agencies. While a ‘Mobile First’

philosophy is an important agenda for all

– details on mobile connectivity along

with updated insights on type of activities

on mobile will help us to design better

communication by platform, device and

markets.

Nguyen Anh Tuan, Managing Director

Adtima - Zalo Group

Thanks to technological advances and

competitive hi-tech market in recent years,

mobile has become an indispensable part of

Vietnamese people. They not only use

mobile to communicate but also to satisfy

higher human needs such as entertainment,

esteem and self-actualization. The amount of

time Vietnamese people thus spends on

mobile has been increasing and does not

show any sign of reducing. It, however, does

not mean that marketers’ job which is to

manifest brands would be easier. On the

other hand, it poses a challenge that

marketers need to equip themselves with

innovative mindsets and forward thinking to

win in this mobile-first world. Go mobile or go

home has never been truer!

" "

"

47

Annexure Mobile Channel Definitions

SMS1

SMS is a text message which is sent

through short message service and

includes a Multi Media message

which is sent through Multi Media

message service (MMS).

Crisp: Conveys USP & expectation

from user within 160 characters

Economical: Cheaper than other

digital media vehicles

Ease of use: All mobile users are

aware of the SMS mechanics

Mass Reach:100% of mobile phone

owners can be reached via SMS

Save for later: Gets stored in phone

for later reference

Linguistic challenge: Difficult to

communicate in regional script

Third party database: Not a reliable

source for reaching a specified TG

Limited analytics: Very basic metrics

for measurement

IVR2 (Interactive Voice Response)

A phone technology that allows a

computer to detect voice and

touch tones using a normal phone

call. The IVR system can respond

with pre-recorded or dynamically

generated audio to further direct

callers on how to proceed. IVR

systems can be used to control

almost any function where the

interface can be broken down into

a series of simple menu choices.

Cost effective: Reduces operational

costs

Customized communication:

Increase first contact resolution,

gives a personal touch from the

brand to the customer

Best for media dark markets: majorly

rural and tier 3/ tier 4 cities

User journey: The IVR menus can be

long, complicated and time

consuming thereby creating fatigue

Clarity: Quick menus and sub menus

within the user flow sometimes

confuses the user

Communication protocol: Poorly

drafted scripts of dialogue creates

bad experience for user.

Channels Definition Benefits Limitations

Traditional Mobile Advertising Formats

48

RBT7

(Ring Back Tone)

A ring back tone (RBT, alternatively

ringing tone) is an audible indication

that is heard by the originator of a

telephone call while the destination

being called is ringing.

Completely non-intrusive as the

caller is taking an action him/herself

and then RBT is played

Reach is huge and the

communication is direct and not

prone to a call drop

The subscription is auto renewed

every month and hence

unsubscribing can cause discomfort

to the users

OBD3

Outbound Dialers are recorded calls

made from an application to pre-

defined recipients through their

mobile phone.

Message delivery strength: Delivers

a branded voice message in under

1 min

Cost effective: Cheaper than many

digital media vehicles

Reach & Awareness: An OBD can

be sent to any mobile subscriber not

in DND

Multi-lingual experience: An IVR can

talk in multiple languages

Dynamic user journeys: The IVR

journey can be tailor-made for the

brand basis objective and

information that it is seeking e.g.

referral, contest participation etc.

Similar to IVR; complicated and time

consuming user journeys can create

fatigue

-Excessive telemarketing calls can

be annoying to consumers and

businesses


49

MMS2

A message sent via a Multimedia

Messaging Service that contains

multimedia objects.

A MMS Banner is a transparent

advertising screen image that is

inserted with text onto an MMS

message. This image will be

displayed as the subscriber is

viewing the complete MMS

message.

A Complete MMS ad could be the

result of a WAP Banner click or a

free message sent to subscribers

who have opted-in to receive news

about the advertiser.

Variety: It has more styles and

formats then a simple SMS

Functional benefit: It also supports

voice, video and images messages.

Compatibility issue: Only works on

multimedia enabled mobile devices

and not all feature phones

Higher costs: It costs more than a

regular SMS

BANNER2

A graphic mobile ad represented by

a banner featuring an image.

Similar to a web banner, but with

lower size constraints.

Creative & visual communication:

Innovative with varied formats

Extremely targeted: Audience can

be selected on various parameters

High Reach: All publishers have

mobile banner ads, so the reach is

incredible for this channel

Quick tip: If you are on a tight

budget, mobile banners are the

way to go

Measurement Metric: Accidental

clicks can skew your reach numbers

Limited space: You can’t get very

creative with your messaging. It has

to be crisp and to the point


New Mobile Advertising Formats

50

INTERSTITIAL2 (it is a form of a banner

ad)

Interstitial ads are full screen ads

that cover the interface of their host

app. They're typically displayed at

natural transition points in the flow of

an app, such as between activities

or during the pause between levels

in a game.

Disruptive: Interstitials a clutter

breaking incremental inventory

format

Size does matter:The direct call to

action and larger size combine to

make interstitials a particularly

effective form of mobile

advertisement.

Quick Tip:They are very effective for

branding, building traffic and

conducting transactions

Reach:Inventory isn’t present with all

publishers

Intrusive:If not crafted carefully, the

can hinder user experience

Data Usage:It consumes more data

thereby incuring cost on end user

Motion Mobile Ads4 (it is a form of

banner ad)

With motion ads i.e. gyroscope

technology, users now can perform

movements such as a “shake” to

respond or a “tilt” to change the

view. It’s not just convenient without

the need for fingers tapping; it also

engages users with high

interactivity.

Immersive format:Highly interactive

edge of the ad makes it unique

Novelty:The native features being

invoked by the banner make it an

feel good experience

Dial up communication USP:The

innovation possibilities can bring out

the brand proposition better

Trial & Error:The ad creative is tricky

to make, many time the creative is

not able to do justice to the motion


51

RICH MEDIA5

Rich media is a digital advertising

term for an ad that includes

advanced features like video,

audio, or other elements that

encourage viewers to interact and

engage with the content.

Interactive & Dynamic

capability:High on interaction

catering to audio, video, animation.

Play me:The RM banner can be a

playable format with a gratification

fulfilment

Powerful branding:Even if the ad

isn’t clicked on, viewers are still more

likely to see and remember the ad

than traditional display advertising

Size heavy:Takes time to load, need

good internet connection to work

seamlessly

High risk on ad blockage

CAROUSAL ADS6 (it is a form of rich

media)

Carousal ads lets advertisers

showcase multiple images and links

in one ad. They support up-to 5

images in one ad.

Interactive:Carousel ad format is

interactive, attention-grabbing and

helpful for both direct response and

brand awareness marketing

Catalogue Format:The format of the

ad allows product to display more

than one feature at the same time

Navigation:The user interface for

carousal ads aren’t easy to

navigate for all users and it

becomes tougher if mobile data is

slow


52

VIDEO5/6

Video as a creative type overcomes

one of the biggest objections to

mobile ads: using sight, sound, and

motion to tell a brand’s story

overcomes the limitations of screen

size. Moreover, it builds a dynamic,

immersive, rich media ad that works

across the fragmented mobile

interactive landscape.

A stunning and captivating way for

publishers and content creators to

share immersive stories

-Increased share-ability

-Marketers can take a deep dive

into analytics

– shared, views, complete views,

likes and other social interaction all

metrics that marketers love to know

about

-With vertical video now rising, more

and more people will consumer

videos on mobile as they usually use

mobile without tilting the screen

horizontally

Viewer has an option to skip the

video ads

-Non skippable video ads may

make the user hop onto another

video

-Many ads are inserted in single

video so there is a lot of

competition. Therefore, marketers

have to go that extra mile to create

great content

INTERSTITAL VIDEOS

Video as a creative type overcomes

one of the biggest objections to

mobile ads: using sight, sound, and

motion to tell a brand’s story

overcomes the limitations of screen

size. Moreover, although rich media

creative tools are steadily

improving, porting a PC or a TV spot

to mobile (making sure the content

suits the unique aspects of mobile)

can be easier than building a

dynamic, immersive, rich media ad

that works across the fragmented

mobile interactive landscape.

More in less:The interstitial video

brings alive the static. It gives the

user more information in the same

time and better size

Engaging:As video is a better

engagement format ads that speak

have better engagement time

spent

Data usage:They take a long time

to load and consumes data thereby

incurring a cost on the user


53

Pre/mid/post roll video

The video ad can appear when a

user initiates video play either in the

beginning (pre-roll), at points in

between (mid-roll), or after (post-

roll). Video ads are offered as either

skippable or non-skippable. In

skippable video ad the viewer has

an option to skip an ad after 5, 10 or

15 seconds as defined by the brand

or the platform. In non-skippable

apps the viewer has no choice but

to watch the ad completely.

Receptive mindset-Since the user

has searched/streaming for a video,

he is in receptive mindet & threfore

the pre/mid/post rolls have a strong

impact on the user

Get there faster:The pre/mid/post

rolls are seen as a timer due to their

short duration format

Intrisive:If not planned carefully the

pre/mid/post rolls can become

annoying if the same message is

played for the user at a very high

frequency capping

MAST HEAD

Mast heads are ads that present on

the homepage of video publishers

like Vuclip and YouTube. They are

the most seen ads on the platform

and are present on the spot for a

complete day.

Paint the town:The mastheads are

premium property as the skin of the

web/mobile destination sets the

tone/mood for the user experience

on it

Impact:Mastheads are high impact

properties as they cover 75% of the

area on the page and leave a

lasting message

Expensive:Due to the high impact

nature of mast heads, they are

expensive within a digital plan


54

TRUE VIEW ADS

These ads are the ones that viewers

actively want to see. They appear

on Google search when a viewer is

searching for a topic. This is an

example of active advertising

where the user opts in to watch an

ad. These ads are run on YouTube

and GDN (Google Display Network).

Challenge creativity: The true view

ads are a challenge for the creative

team to deliver a message in a short

time but maintaining the stickyness

of the communication so user

doesn’t skip

Accurate impact measurement:

True view ads measure the real

impact of the communication as

users choose and continue to

watch the ads they like

Skippable: User is not bound to view

the whole ad and can skip it

360 VIDEO ADS

As the video plays, watch the scene

come alive. Turn your mobile device

or drag your finger to move around

within the video and explore every

angle.

3D Experience: Breaking the clutter

of 2D and static ads, 360 degree

ads give a 3D experience to the

user which is novel

Immersive: Ads are crafted with

delivering an immersive experience

to the user

Expensive: It’s difficult to get the 360

degree creative and user

experience right.


55

LIVE VIDEO

Live Video is a platform where a

user can create a video of their

experience and share it on the spot.

If you are at a concert or doing an

adventure sport you can share your

live experience with your friends,

fans, followers etc. Live Videos is

more of a content platform rather

than a direct advertising platform.

No Royalty: Since its user generated

content and user is willing uploading

the vid as a participation criteria,

the content repository can be

reused by the brand with no

additional costs incurred on content

licensing

Trendy & Targeting: Ad campaigns

cater to a segment of users with

smartphones and willing to uplaod

their work of art. Thereby addressing

a targeted audience with a

contemporary offering

Data Only: Caters to only market

with mobile internet penetration

Junk master: A lot of junk comes in

as a part of the campaign if the

CTA is not clearly defined

In Game advertising7

In-game advertising (IGA) refers to

advertising in mobile video games.

IGA differs from advergaming,

which refers to a game specifically

made to advertise a product. IGA

allows brands to have their name or

products featured in digital games.

Huge billboards placed in virtual

cities can feature the logos of major

corporations.

Not at all intrusive and places your

brand name in the user experience

in an organic fashion

-High on creativity as gives the

brand several ways to integrate

themselves in a game

-The gamer while playing the game

sees a brand placement in high on

purchase intent

Choosing the right game to

advertise your brand is a critical

issue. The game that is relevant for

your brand may not have many

users but these users will have high

intent on purchase. Look less for

mass reach, look for targeted reach

-In-game have engaged user that

will have high intent for your brand.

On the other hand, the users are so

engrossed in playing the game may

sometimes miss your brands

placement as well


56

ROAD BLOCK8

When a brand occupies all of the

home page inventory on major

mobile sites and apps for a single

day, so a user is confronted with the

same ad everywhere with the

ultimate objective, of obtaining

100% share of voice for the brand.

It’s the one stop shop for branding

exercise for major campaigns like a

new product launch

-A brand reaches all kind of

audiences and creates a buzz

around its campaign very quickly

and effectively

-Many ad formats available with

rich media, interstitial, homepage

take over etc.

Very expensive and marketers end

up putting money on properties i.e.

apps and websites that are totally

contradictory to your brand

message and TG

NATIVE ADVERTISING6

Native ads give you the control to

design the perfect ad units for any

channel (across social, video,

audio, search, text and is not limited

to a platform). With our Native Ad

API, you can determine the look

and feel, size and location of your

ads. Because you decide how the

ads are formatted, ads can fit

seamlessly in your application.

Native advertising benefits

publishers, advertisers and the

audience

-Allows for advertisements to be

unobtrusive

-Higher audience engagement

leading to better CTRs

Native is a new advertising format

and therefore marketers don’t know

how to read its performance and

where to benchmark it

-Higher spends on creating good

content


57

NATIVE CONTENT CREATION

Native advertising has another side

to it that is content creation. You

can create original content like

video, audio or text sponsored by

your brand that is read, heard or

viewed by audiences on different

channels.

Control communication

protocol:When content is curated

basis brand guidelines there a

quality control that the brand has in

place

Exploratory:The branded content

finds its place subtly within a useful

article that user is browsing,

therefore the user stumbles upon the

discovery of the advertising

Expensive: Its expensive to create

native content which addresses not

just the branding objective but also

the fits the platform tonality

EMOTICONS

Emoticons are visual representation

of your feelings and emotions.

Brands either use existing emoticons

for their campaigns or create

branded emoticons for themselves

to break the clutter.

Monkey see monkey do:They go

viral easily

My own lingo:They set you apart

from other brands

Strong non-verbal que:Easily used

by consumers

What's hot:Trendy and popular with

the youth audience

Get it right:If used very casually or in

a wrong connotation can create a

bad reputation for the brand, the

entire message can be taken out of

its original context


58

MOBILE BROWSER

Mobile browsers don’t exactly have

ad formats, they are prevalent for

content partnerships which helps

you promote your brands in-terms of

increase in number of users

accessing your content. If you are a

news aggregator you can partner

with a browser to push your content,

this is viable for any category that is

content lead be it shopping, video

streaming, music etc.

Instant reach:It is used by everyone

with a smartphone, so usage is high

Choose what you say:You can

become an exclusive partner with a

browser to create a particular

content and all users will consume

your content for the said category

Ad blocker:Browser ad blocks are

prevalent

No new:Limited options on ad

formats

AUDIO

Music is amongst the top consumed

media by people which has led to a

tremendous growth in music

streaming apps and hence the

growth of audio advertising

Tune me in:Highly engaged

audiences

Non-Intrusive: Placed after the

listener has consumed a good

amount of uninterrupted music

makes these ad spots nonintrusive

2 in 1:The companion banner solves

the problem of no CTA in audio ads

Missing the mark:People are using

the apps while working on driving

the car then they aren’t able to see

the companion banner.


59

ONLY AUDIO ADS

Audio ads which are basically in-

stream ads for music listeners on

music streaming apps

AUDIO + COMPANION BANNERS

With the audio ad you get banners

placed when the audio spot is

running which gives your brand

more visibility


PUSH NOTIFICATIONS

Push notification is the message you

get from an app or browser in your

mobile devices notification center. It

can be an update, an ad or a

piece of information.

Captive audience:You can reach

your apps/browsers entire user

universe at once

Now you see me:It is displayed even

on lock screens (if user has that

setting on) when your app or

browser isn’t been used by the user

Post it:It is non-intrusive and doesn’t

hamper user experience

Turn off:The user can switch off the

notifications

Don’t overdo:If you push many

notifications in a day the user can

also uninstall the app

60

MOBILE SEARCH5

A type of AdWords ad that can

appear on webpages and apps

that are viewed on a mobile device

like a cell phone or tablet. For

AdWords, "mobile" is defined as

where the ad can appear: on

"mobile" devices. These include

high-end mobile devices with

smaller screens, such as

smartphones.

Just google it:More than half the

Indian population uses mobile

devices to make their primary

research, making mobile search

highly apt and effective for any

brand

Be where you want to

be:Heightened keyword targeting

available. You are charged on a

click therefore you know action was

took by a consumer

Info overload:Too much

competition with both paid and

organic results. It takes time to start

performing, it’s more of a long term

investment.

LOYALTY PROGRAM

A loyalty program is a rewards

program offered by a company to

customers who frequently make

purchases in this case purchased on

the mobile app. A loyalty program

may give a customer advanced

access to new products, special

sales coupons or free merchandise.

Brand love:Caters to loyal users who

want to be a part of the brand

platform

Stickyness:Increases repeat usage

with engaging content and useful

info

Gold class:Increase customer loyalty

and future sales, helps in up-selling

VIP feel good:No problems of

carrying cards and coupons they

are present in your app virtually

Notional value:Many coupons are

available only if you make a bigger

purchase, the consumer may feel

cheated and hence uninstall your

app


61

LOCATION BASED6

In Location targeting section, you

can select the name of one or more

countries, states, provinces, cities,

congressional districts, zip codes (US

only) or post codes (internationally)

to show your ads to people in those

locations. You can also choose a

radius within which the ads should

be displayed.

Sharp targeting:Targets the

customer when near the store helps

increase customer’s intention of a

buy

Share of competition:Marketers can

target their competition’s locations

and try and get their customers as

well

Here i am:Improves your businesses

search results as well

Limited reach: Area to which you

can target your consumers is

restricted

Data usage:Needs strong mobile

data to use maps

Limited market landscape:Not vastly

available everywhere

MOBILE APPLICATION2

Software solutions that power the

business logic for mobile marketing

initiative(s).

Seamless:User experience

Defined engagement:Can serve

utility or innovative/experiential

engagement

Stickyness:Long sustaining customer

relationship

High Top of mind recall:users

download app for a specific

purpose therefore their top of mind

recall for the app us high

Downlaods:Driving traffic and

downloads requires additional

marketing budgets making it an

expensive asset to promote for

marketers

Variety engagement:Further

budgets required to keep the users

engaged

Shelf life:User uninstalls If the app if it

doesn’t serve their interest anymore,

therefore need to always have new

content on the app


62

IN-APP ADVERTISING5

Showing ads in mobile apps. You

can reach a growing audience of

people using mobile phones and

tablets by showing your ads in apps.

Highly Targeted and Innovative

-Captivated audiences

-Better performance metrics can be

recorded

Too much advertising within the app

can push consumers to uninstall the

app

PRE-EMBEDS

Many mobile apps are pre-

embedded in smartphone software

and is available to all users who buy

that particular device. For e.g. –

Google applications are present in

all android devices. Similarly many

external application also have deals

with OEMs (Original Equipment

Manufacturers) and are pre-burnt or

pre-loaded in their devices.

Mobile apps that are already

present in the device have higher

chances to be used by the device

owner as the app can’t be

removed from the device

-The mobile app gets better visibility

and usage if it’s pre-embedded in a

device

The user can’t uninstall the app from

the devices if s/he doesn’t wish to

use it

-The app stays in the device

occupying the space which could

have been used for storing

something else. This will cause the

app to have lesser active users.


63

QR CODE10

A one-dimensional bar code conveys

information by the width of its bars and

spaces, or the difference in their

horizontal dimension. In contrast, a two-

dimensional matrix bar code like the QR

code communicates information by

the arrangement of dark and light

elements in columns and rows. The

position-detection patterns, located in

three corners of each QR code, allow

the code to be read quickly and from

any angle.

Accurate monitoring and measurement

-Dynamic user journey

-Economical, anyone can create a QR

code online for free and use it as per

need

-Integrated medium, works best with

OOH and Print

Dependent on Print media for fulfilment

of CTA

-Requires user to have a QR code

scanner app

AUGMENTED REALITY11

An enhanced version of reality

created by the use of technology to

overlay digital information on an

image of something being viewed

through a device (as a smartphone

camera).

New & Innovative channel of

mobile advertising

-Immersive and Experiential with a

Dynamic user journey

-Shock and Awe - creating curiosity

about new engagement medium

and then deploying a seamless

experience

Costly requires professional and

technical teams

-Medium Understanding is very less

by both consumers and marketers

-Requires on ground assistance

-Single time user experience


Internet of Things

64

VIRTUAL REALITY11

An artificial world that consists of

images and sounds created by a

computer and that is affected by

the actions of a person who is

experiencing it

Virtual reality creates a realistic

world which is an exciting place to

be for consumers

-It enables consumers to explore

things like never before where they

can experiment with an artificial

environment

-It’s a disrupting idea where

consumers will remember your

brand for a long time

The equipment used in virtual reality

is very expensive

-The technology is not understood

by consumers as well as marketers

-There is no metrics to measure its

success

NFC12

NFC Is short range wireless

technology to exchange data

among various devices with various

usages.

Can be used for store theft

detection, utility and security based

for access cards etc.

-NFC technology essentially

converts smartphones into loyalty

cards, single-tap location ‘check in’

devices, concert tickets, coupon

carriers, contactless payment

devices, transit tickets, and secure

keys to access cars, hotel rooms,

buildings, and computers—the

possibilities are endless

Phones with NFC readers are

expensive

-Cost of installation and campaign

design is very high


1TRAI | 2MMA | 3Airtel | 4Mobile Lead Blogs | 5Google | 6Facebook | 7Wikipedia | 8Clickz Blog | 9Invertiopedia Blog | 10Merriam Webster | 11Sony

Acknowledgement

65

MMA Vietnam would like to acknowledge the efforts put in by the following in producing this report:

GroupM - Ed Thesiger | Huong Luu |Huyen DoanKantar Media - Tran Thi Tan MaiFacebook – William NguyenGoogle – Nitin Gajria | Anish JainGameloft – Hoang DatAdtima - Zalo Group – Nguyen Anh Tuan

About MMA:The MMA is the world’s leading global non-profit trade association comprised of more than 800 member companies, from nearly fifty countries around the world. MMA Member companies hail from every faction of the mobile media ecosystem. Our consortium includes brand marketers, agencies, enabling technologies, media companies and others. The MMA’s mission is to accelerate the transformation and innovation of marketing through mobile, driving business growth with closer and stronger consumer engagement.

Disclaimer:

66

The information contained in this Mobile Ecosystem and Sizing Report Vietnam 2017/18 (“Report”) provides the readers with a comprehensive

overview of the mobile marketing ecosystem in Vietnam and the various factors that influence it. The information contained herein is purely for

information purposes only and we assert that no business or investment decisions be made solely based on the information presented in the

Report. If any such decisions are made based on the contents of the Report, then we shall not be responsible for the same.

The information provided herein is on "as is" basis and is based on data sourced from, or provided by, third parties or publicly available sources,

for which prior express consents have been obtained. While reasonable endeavours have been made to present accurate data in the Report,

no representation or warranty, express or implied, is made or claimed as to its accuracy, completeness, correctness or merchantability and

fitness for a particular purpose.

The contents of this Report are confidential in nature and without prejudice. No part of the Report may be divulged to any third party,

reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying, mechanical, recording or otherwise without our prior express

written consent. Appropriate express written consent be sought from various publishers/individuals who have been quoted in the Report prior to

borrowing/using/quoting their content.

The views expressed in the Report are based on the information available to us as of the date of the Report and are subject to change from

time to time without notice. We do not accept the responsibility to update this Report nor do we accept any liability arising from the use of this

Report in any manner whatsoever.

Documents

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